Accurate and timely machine counting of fruit on the tree or vine has long been considered impossible or impractical. Current methods rely on manual estimation and are often inaccurate and labor intensive. Inaccurate estimates lead to inaccurate crop forecasts. This inaccuracy complicates pricing and grower's ability to forecast plan, and optimize market timing participation. What is needed is an improved method for accurately determining and forecasting plant size and quality and harvested yield.
Further, agricultural systems typically do not take into account how the genetics of a plant can impact properties such as size and quality based on observed phenotypical data.